


Happier

by Azar443



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-26
Updated: 2017-04-26
Packaged: 2018-10-24 04:48:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,313
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10734429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Azar443/pseuds/Azar443
Summary: Inspired by the song "Happier" by Ed Sheeran and requested by anonymous on Tumblr





	Happier

It was cold.

You wrapped your coat tighter around yourself as you shook the snow from your hair. You didn’t know what possessed you to decide to walk through the cold, empty streets of New York by yourself in the height of winter, but here you were.

_Warm breaths on your hair. Warm arms around you, rubbing heat into your shivering body. Gentle, almost lazy kisses peppered onto any available skin surface._

You shivered and trudged on with no destination in mind. Winter meant something once. It meant cuddles and hot cocoa made by combat-worn hands that were gentle on the smooth skin of your face. Now, it was just another reminder that you were alone.

“ _Percival, slow down!” A sharp bark of laughter was your only response as the man in question seemed to speed up even more. His normally carefully slicked back hair was loose, strands sticking out wildly but he didn’t care. Broom rides with him were rare. For one, it was illegal to go riding on brooms in crowded New York, what with the high possibility of nosy No-Majs spotting a broomstick zipping through the air. But once in a while, when the fog was particularly heavy and it was in the wee hours of the night, Percival would throw caution to the wind and grab your hand, pulling you to his prized broom and the two of you would kick off into the night air, holding on for dear life and each other._  


You blinked back tears when you thought back on how one day, you found you just didn’t belong in his life anymore. You remember how your possessions slowly disappeared from his spacious flat; how the place you called home slowly lost all signs of you ever being there and became just _his_.

_Heavy breathing filled the otherwise silent room. Percival tenderly pushed back a lock of your hair even as the two of you moved in tandem, a slow rhythm of a dance that only you and your beloved knew. You loved how whenever Percival made love to you, it seemed like you were enclosed in a bubble where only you and he existed, where nothing bad could ever happen. Your mutual release came with simultaneous sighs as he slowed, and you cradled his sweat-slicked head onto your heaving chest. Light whispers of I love you’s ushered you into sleep, with his strong arms holding you tight and secure, and you knew nothing could ever go wrong when you were with him._

You caught the distinguished shape of a man in an achingly familiar black coat with white accents slowly make his way to a nearby bar. You recognized his broad shoulders and his purposeful gait, and a small smile crept onto your face when Percival ran an exasperated hand through his dark locks, no doubt frustrated by how the show was destroying his favourite pair of dress shoes. He always was an impeccable dresser.

_You were swaying slowly to the music on the radio as you made dinner. You had went all out today, buying fine quality pork to make the wonderful roast Percival always loved. You didn’t notice the figure that Apparated into the living room. He smiled, gazing fondly at your tantalizing figure even as he shed his heavy outer layers and shoes before coming to stand behind you. He breathed in your scent, his nose tickling at the faint remains of the floral perfume you had worn to work that day, before pressing a kiss onto your shoulder. You had squealed then, surprised by the feeling of his lips. Laughter permeated your home as he picked you up effortlessly and playfully twirled you around, pretending to dance a waltz with you. You had fallen in love with him all over in that second; you fell in love lines in his tired but happy face, the scars on his back that you couldn’t see now but knew where there, and the callouses and grazes on his hands, marks left by vigorous combat training and paper cuts. A surprised grunt left his lips when you grabbed his dear face in your hands, pressing a soul-searing kiss onto his lips. His arms encircled your body and tightened on the small of your back and **oh** , what would you give to be held by him once more._

The smile died on your lips when you realized he was meeting with someone else in the bar. You recognized the dark-haired Auror, Tina, who had over your years at MACUSA, became a good friend. Dazedly, you wondered when you had made your way to the dusty windows of the bar, catching a better glimpse of the two. You saw how the man you loved and your friend conversing about some unknown subject and how a dark cloud seemed to hover between your love’s furrowed brows, and you longed to smooth them over with kisses. But he wasn’t yours to kiss now, and it made your heart ache so.

You saw Tina gingerly place her arm over Percival’s, and something she said made him laugh unexpectedly and oh, how you wanted to storm in and pull him away because he was yours to hold and love, not anyone else’s, not even hers. But you couldn’t move. You could only see his stiff back start to relax and his smile start to grow. You couldn’t help but notice how his smile seemed to be twice as wide with her than it was with you. You saw his gaze on her soften and when he hesitantly wiped the bit of mustard off her lip, you knew then that he could be so much happier with her, and maybe he was. Somewhere in the frigid New York air, a crow caw’d mournfully.

You left then, Apparating towards his home. You needed to see it, just for the last time. The wards Percival put up were as secure as ever, but you had no problem slipping in without setting off any alarms. Taking your time, you let your eyes and fingers wander over every single surface of the place that had once been your home. It was strange how one space could hold infinite memories; everywhere you turned to reminded you of everything the two of you had gone through throughout the time you were together.

That armchair in the corner, that’s where you found him sleeping on some days, exhausted after a long day’s work. The rug in front of the fire place was still wrinkled from the last time you cuddled by the fire. The shoe rack by the door once held your countless shoes and Percival had been flabbergasted when he saw your more than modest shoe collection. The countertop in the kitchen had been where Percival loved to hoist you up and kiss you senseless. The two of you had countless times when you slow danced to silence on the balcony, and the shower with the black and white tiles was where you found Percival after he awoke from his nightmares about the time you were both captured by  Grindelwald. He had clutched at you like a drowning sailor when you embraced him, begging you to never leave him. You chuckled sadly as you thought of the brown leather sofa where you rode him to the brink of ecstasy and beyond, to christen the new piece of furniture. Despite Percival’s stoic facade, the man was a devil in bed, and did he have the talents to make you scream in pleasure. Getting up from the carpeted floor in the master bedroom, you cast your eyes about you one last time. You’ve said goodbye to your home and maybe, just maybe, you thought you could bear the thought of Tina making Percival happier, because your Percival was the best of men and he deserved love, even if it wasn’t with you. The curtains in his bedroom fluttered and you were gone, leaving the scent of flowers behind.

* * *

Percival frowned and turned to the grimy windows of the pub he was in. He could have sworn he saw you there, but. He shook his head, cutting that strand of thought off. It was impossible. Tina touched his hand, bringing him back to the present. “Are you ok?” He stared at her for a moment, then back at the empty spot where he thought he saw you, seeing nothing but snow. Turning back to the younger Auror, he smiled slightly, “I think so.”

* * *

The end of the week saw Percival making his way to a quiet part of New York that was shielded from the No-Majs. Letting himself through the rusted gate, his footsteps slowed and his grip on the bouquet of blood red roses tightened. Stopping short of his destination, he took sharp breaths to stop the sting of tears before kneeling in front of a fresh grave and placing the bouquet gently on the ground. Tenderly wiping the snow from the elegant black marble headstone, he choked back a strangled sob when he saw your name engraved in the cold slab of stone.

_“Percival! Look out!”_  


_The Director of Magical Security for MACUSA prided himself on his lightning quick reflexes but the one time he needed them on his side, they failed him. As turned to lead, he could only watch and roar your name in horror as you leapt in front of the curse aimed towards him. It wasn’t until he saw you hit the hard ground did he move, blasting the damned witch whose curse hit you with a particularly vicious Stunning spell. Not pausing for breath, he dropped to his knees before you and pulled you in his lap._

_“No no no. Stay with me darling, don’t you dare leave me!” Even as he begged you to keep fighting, to live, the Aurors were screaming for medical aid to save the Director’s fiancé. You felt as though your lungs were filled with fire, and every breath sent excruciating agony throughout every fiber of your broken body. Mustering the last reserves of your strength, you touched his devastated visage, feeling the wetness of his tears as you apologized for not being able to stay with him. “"I love you Perce. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”  
_

_The Aurors who were present would later tell of how their leader had howled like a wounded beast as your life force slowly slipped away, and when the mediwitches finally arrived, a heartbeat too late, Percival Graves, the man who survived capture and torture by Gellert Grindelwald, was no more than an empty shell holding the cold body of the woman he loved._

You blinked the sudden tears that clouded your vision away. You remembered now, staring at your own grave, that you, the real you, were lying six feet under ground, dead and gone. That was why you had found Percival furiously clearing the flat of all traces of you, why he never acknowledged your tearful pleas for him to stop and _oh god why did he stop loving you-_

Percival was speaking to your grave now, his lilting voice mournful and quiet, he talked about how lost he was after you died, about how he hated the pitying glances everyone gave him. He told you, haltingly about how Tina had approached him and invited him for drinks and company, at first because she wanted to help him feel better, but now because they realized they enjoyed the company of the other. He admitted, almost shamefully, about how his heart hurt less when he was with her, and begged for your forgiveness because he felt as though he was betraying you and he wanted to never forget how you fit so perfectly against him and how your mouth could draw the most non-masculine of whimpers from his lips. And _god_ he was terrified of forgetting you.

Slowly, you rested your hand on his shoulders, and was surprised when he tensed, as though he felt your touch. Taking a deep breath, you wrapped yourself around him for the last time, and fresh sobs broke out from the both of you. You were saying goodbye.

When you finally let him go, day had turned dark and you heard him groan at his now stiff limbs. He pressed a kiss onto your headstone and you kissed him, feather light on the corner of his mouth, just like you did every morning when you parted ways to your respective offices. You whispered your love, and your blessing for him to find love again, and with the dying evening breeze, you were gone.

* * *

As Percival made his way home alone, he touched the spot near his mouth where he had felt the flutter f your lips. The wind had carried the whisper of your voice to him, and he wondered if it were truly you reaching out to him, or if he was just crazy. But, he mused, if being crazy meant getting to say goodbye to you for the last time, then he would gladly call himself insane. He thought of your last words to him, and while he knew that maybe one day, he would be happy again with someone else, maybe even Tina, he still needed time. You were the love of his life, and he loved you far too much to let anyone take your place after just having lost you. But knowing you had, even in death, given him your blessing, a heavy weight wasn’t lifted off of his heart, knowing he wouldn’t be betraying you by finding love with someone else.

Still, as the wind sent a final caress on his weathered face he knew that even if there was someone who could make him smile as you did, the love you shared would always be with him, and he would always have been happier with you. And that’s ok.


End file.
